The High Court will decide this Friday whether former transport minister Dr Ling Liong Sik needs to enter his defence or be freed on a charge of cheating the government in the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project.

The controversy in the PKFZ project also involved Port Klang Authority (PKA) general manager OC Phang and another former transport minister Chan Kong Choy.

Phang is charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT), involving RM254.85 million, while Chang is charged with cheating former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of RM1.9 billion.

All pleaded not guilty to the charges made against them.

Ling, 68, is charged with cheating the government by not disclosing to the cabinet an additional interest rate of 7.5 percent per annum on the purchase price of the land for the PKFZ project, which had been fixed at RM1,088,456,000 by the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH), based on RM25 per sq ft, inclusive of the coupon/interest rate.

He also faces two alternative charges, of cheating and intentionally omitting from the Cabinet that the 7.5 percent per annum was an additional interest rate on the land price.

Ling, represented by lawyer Wong Khian Keong, is charged with committing the offences at the fourth floor of the Prime Minister’s Office, Perdana Putra building in Putrajaya, between Sept 25 and Nov 6, 2002.  

- Bermana